Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Heard of - Papiliopolymnestor ?-
‘Thikkutheiryathakattilunnaithedialainthen’
is one of the many songs of the great Tamil Poet SubrahmanyaBharathiyar.
‘ThikkuTheriyathakattil’ (in a forest lost in directions) was also the name of
a hit movie released in 1972 starring Muthuraman and Lakshmi … a song
‘poopoovaparanthupogumpattupoochiakka’ – a child asking the butterfuly as to
who gave it such a beautiful shirt ! – was a grand hit of yesteryears.

These winged
wonders are beautiful to look at. The
monarch butterfly migrates long
distances and reportedly goes ‘winter getaway’ to the warm mountain forests of
Mexico. Today, conservationists and eco-enthusiasts are fixated more on the
plight — not the flight — of the butterflies. Studies by the World Wildlife
Fund and other conservation groups show that monarch populations in Mexico have
plummeted.

Away from the
monarch, a ‘social butterfly’ is a
popular slang term for a person who is socially dynamic, networking,
charismatic, and personally gregarious.
Social butterflies are lively characters, comfortable – fitting in every
environ, making friends easily – and keeping in touch with no geographical
features. Social media like FB, Twitter, Instagram can do wonders – and you get
to see so many photos, people and happenings everyday – when you stay in
touch...

The
blue Mormon (Papiliopolymnestor) is a large
swallowtail butterfly found in South India and Sri Lanka. Butterflies are part of the class of insects
in the order Lepidoptera. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured
wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight.
Butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year
depending on the species. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the
visual and literary arts.

The news is - Blue Mormon, the second largest butterfly found in
India, is now the ‘State Butterlfy’ of
the State of Maharashtra. Maharashtra
has become the first state in country to have a ‘state
butterfly’. It has accorded the status to Blue Mormon. The decision was
taken Monday at a meeting of the Maharashtra State Wildlife Board.Chief
Minister DevendraFadnavis chaired the meeting that was also attended by Forest
Minister SudhirMungantiwar and Minister of State for Forest Ram Shinde.

The colourful
butterflies add to the beauty of every garden. In our story books, we often
come across the mention of butterflies. But it never got the same status as
state’s special flower or fruits get,” said a senior Minister. Maharashtra is home to 225 varieties of
butterflies and accounts for 15 per cent of the country’s estimated butterfly
population. Butterfly academicians, research scholars and nature lovers had
requested Mungantiwar to consider Blue Mormon for the status.

Easily
identifiable, the Blue Mormon boasts exquisite
velvet-like black wings with bright blue spots, and now is a State symbol. The status affords it some added importance
and might offer some more protection.
There are National animals / birds too -
interestingly, some Nations have extinct or
never-existed-in-the-first-place as
their national animals !